Side-step these five common App Store Optimisation mistakes, to stay at the top of your game.

For many, the nuances of achieving great ASO performance is a time-consuming dark art, (which is why they turn to businesses like ours); ASO involves the integration of data from a number of sources, to create ever-evolving strategies that enhance your app's visibility and entice users to download and use.

Not everyone has an ASO team to help them, and whilst it might take a number of years to become a whizz at it, there are some errors that are easy to avoid, and doing so can help shore-up your performance and enhance discovery.

So our team has put together a top-five shortlist of easily-made visibility and ranking mistakes, with tips for how to avoid them.

1. Avoid keyword duplication

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that repetitive use of keywords across different assets on your product page contributes to higher rankings or improved user motivation - it has no effect. Remove unnecessary keyword duplication and instead use this valuable character space for additional target keywords that are relevant to your app and its features; this will help to improve organic reach.

2. Avoid the inclusion of low-performing keywords

The popularity of keywords is measured by the volume of users searching for them, with higher volume generally indicating greater popularity. Regrettably, many marketers overlook this essential data, often glancing momentarily at keyword volume and then disregarding it. Some marketers mistakenly assume that keyword volume remains static, when it's actually variable; others lack the time to regularly check it.

Thus, monitoring is imperative. Before experimenting with your keywords, conduct market research and competitor analysis to determine which are ranking well and repeat that process regularly to weed out non-performers and add new words.

3. Inclusion of irrelevant keywords

As we’ve noted, including popular keywords is vital to ASO ranking; however, the relevance of those keywords to your app’s offering is just as important. The App Store algorithm determines whether you have selected keywords that are relevant to your offering; if you have, then results will be positive, but if you have simply padded your metadata with high-volume keywords that are irrelevant to your app, you will be penalised by the algorithm, with a lower organic ranking. The objective is to use high-volume, highly-relevant keywords.

4. Don't neglect cross-localisation

Rather than focusing on keywords in a single language for a specific region, there’s an opportunity to research and include keywords that users are searching for, in other languages. In some regions a second or third popular language is commonplace, so users might be searching for your app in their preferred language choice.

Research and add alternative language keywords to your metadata to ensure that your app can be discovered by more people in that region. Harnessing the opportunity of cross-localisation allows you to use your keywords effectively across various markets and optimise your app in multiple languages and regions simultaneously.

5. Utilise those screenshots!

Screenshots play a crucial role in immediately conveying your app's features and benefits to users. They should promote the key features that a user is searching for and demonstrate how easy it is to use your app. Underutilisation of screenshots is a waste of one of your most powerful conversion tools and will negatively impact user engagement.

Conclusion: ASO is not a one-time exercise!

In the competitive world of app stores, avoiding these common ASO mistakes can significantly improve your app's organic performance, but on-going success requires constant attention and evolution. Events, seasonality, user behaviour and competitor activity are constantly changing and this all has the potential to impact your organic results. So keep your app at the top of its game by auditing your keywords, noticing seasonality and watching the competition.